Audio-visual groups TF1, M6 and Altice announced Friday that they have signed agreements to sell TFX and 6ter channels to Altice, should the planned merger between TF1 and M6 actually be completed.

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Presence of representative bodies for TF1 employees “Approved the project to sell TFX channel to Altice Group”, the two groups signed the agreements relating to this sale, indicated in a joint press release by TF1 and Altice. In the process, M6 has also reported signing agreements with Altice to sell its channel 6ter after obtaining the opinion of the personnel authorities.

These transactions are the result of the proposed merger between TF1 and M6, which is supposed to give birth to a new French television giant. But to do this, TF1 and M6, which have ten channels between them, must comply with French regulations that limit the number of national channels on digital terrestrial television (TNT) to 7 for the same group.

Waiting for the green light from Arcom

And so the two groups announced at the end of February that they wanted to sell TFX and 6ter channels to Altice, a communications and media group founded by billionaire Patrick Drahy. To access the account, M6 at the same time announced that “Scheme to restore the TNT frequency of the Paris Premiere channel” While still playing the paid channel on other broadcast, cable and satellite channels.

Although sales of the TFX and 6ter are signed between the TF1 and M6 on one side and the Altice on the other, they remain subject to getting the green light from the competition authority and Arcom, the audiovisual and digital regulator. Especially for the merger between TF1 and M6. For now, TFX “It will therefore remain fully under the control of the TF1 group throughout 2022.”defines TF1.